Definition of "olivine" []

• A mineral silicate of iron and magnesium, principally (Mg, Fe)2SiO4, found in igneous and metamorphic rocks and used as a structural material in refractories and in cements. Also called chrysolite. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The mineral most subject to this serpentinization process is called olivine—also known in its gemstone form as peridot—and it is common on Mars."
• "And there's a mineral called olivine, which is very, very susceptible to being altered by water and changed into other compounds, but there is a lot of olivine on Mars, and that would indicate, well, maybe there wasn't water because there shouldn't be so much olivine there if there was an ocean."
• "I found a mass of crystals of the greenish volcanic glass, called olivine, imbedded in a piece of phonolite which looked as blue and fresh as if only quarried yesterday."